Dominance Issues
by Athena2693
Summary: [Elricest] At eight years old, Ed finally learns what it's called to be in love with your brother, and why it sucks to be short.


_Title:_ Dominance Issues

_Author:_ Athena2693

_Rating:_ PG, maybe

_Pairing:_ Pre-Elricest

_Warning:_ Um, a little implied pedo, but it's mostly harmless

_Summary:_ The reasoning behind why Ed hates being called short.

_A/N:_ Don't be offended! I was just using early 1900 beliefs on homosexuality!

_Dominance Issues_

The Elric brothers realized they were destined to be with each other at a very young age. If they had been twins, they probably would've been kissing in the womb.

Their mother never thought anything of it. So her sons were quite affectionate with each other. Siblings tended to grow strong bonds. When Al fell down and got a boo boo, Ed was the first one there to kiss it better. So what? When Ed got out of the bath, Al was always there to help him dress in his pjs and brush his hair for him. Big deal.

Edward and Alphonse, however, knew the truth from the beginning. From the moment they learned what marriage and kisses and love was, they both knew they would share all three. Even if they didn't bother to tell their mother right away.

At only seven and eight-years-old, there was no real harm in what they were doing. They slept in the same bed, fully clothed, and held each other in their sleep. Sometimes, they would practice kissing in the dark. They knew it involved tongues and lips, but they could never get it right. But that was all right, because they had a long time before they had to worry about that sort of thing. They also knew they would have to do something that involved being naked, but that was far off also, because Mother said to not let anybody touch their private place until they were grown up.

They didn't have a word for their love until they found a book in their father's collection. Ed, as a rule, only read the books on alchemy when they were searching through the tomes. But Al, being a little more open and a little more easily distracted than his brother, would occasionally read some medical or history book.

The older blond hadn't noticed that Al wasn't actually reading up on alchemy until he heard a snort and looked over to see he was blushing.

"What're you reading?"

"Nothing."

"No, really, what is it?"

The younger boy wrinkled his nose, but obediently held up the book so that Ed could read the cover.

_Sexuality and Common Psychological Disorders_.

"What's it about?"

"Mental problems."

"Dealing with, with sex?" Ed asked, saying the last word in a loud whisper that was actually more audible than his speaking voice.

"Yeah. Like, there's some people who don't like to do sex. And there's some people who do it with animals! And then there's homosexuals."

"Homosexuals?"

"Somebody who likes somebody of the same gender."

"There's other people like that?" Ed perked up instantly. He had never dreamed that they weren't the first to make this up. "Come over here, I want to read it to."

"It's not very nice."

"So what. I want to see what it says."

Al grabbed the book and walked over to lie next to Ed on the quilt they had thrown on the floor. Ed had hogged the one pillow they had grabbed, so Al pushed him over and rested his elbows on it also, laying the book so that the bottom edge pushed against the pillow's cover. Pressed closely together, hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder, Ed started skimming the page.

"Keep an ear out, in case Mom comes," Ed reminded vaguely, like he always said when they were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. Like, for instance, making out.

_Homosexuality is one of the most common of all psychological disorders. The dictionary defines homosexuality as "A mental disease wherein those of the same gender are sexually drawn to one another and shun the opportunity to engage in true heterosexual relationships." Like with bestiality and pedophilia, it is unknown why homosexuals crave those of their own gender, but it is widely accepted as a perversion of nature and society._

_Some specialists believe that homosexuality is caused by phobia of those of the opposite gender, while others believe it is caused by improper upbringing. These hypotheses will be discussed later in this chapter. There have been many attempts at curing true homosexuals, but these treatments are not usually successful. Some of the known remedies include breast removal, hypnosis, aversion therapy, and castration._

"Castration!" Ed squeaked, covering his tiny little crotch, as if fearing a knife clutching man in white was going to barge in at any moment. "Like what Nelly's parents did with the baby pigs? That's horrible!"

"Told you it wasn't nice."

"You didn't say it was barbaric!"

"Do you think that the book is right?" Al questioned softly, chewing on his lip a little. "About it being a perversion? Mom was great with us growing up, and I don't think I'm scared of girls."

"Al, you don't even know enough girls to be scared of them," Ed waved away the question carelessly, "Who do we know? Mom, Aunt Pinoko, and Winry."

"Winry is scary sometimes. She hit you in the head with that wrench the other day."

"But that's just Winry. She's not a girl, really, she's like, something else."

"A hermaphrodite?" Al supplied.

"A hermaphro-what?'

"Hermaphrodite. It was the chapter before heterosexuality. Somebody's who's a boy and a girl."

"They have that?"

"Yeah! They can't get themselves pregnant though."

"What's the use then?"

Al shrugged. "It gets more interesting coming up."

Ed skimmed a few paragraphs concerning case studies of men and women that had both succeeded and failed overcoming their own homosexuality. The author was writing more in depth about the definition of homosexuals.

_Some people define true homosexuals as taking place between two men, involving the action of sodomy, eliminating the possibility of there being true female homosexuals. Others believe that anything from kissing, to oral stimulation, to something as vague as "falling in love" is enough to define a homosexual._

_For those who follow the belief involving sodomy, even that definition is very set. To be a case of sodomy-involving homosexuality, there is a set of rules. The two beings involved have to be over the legal age of consent. The action must take place on more than one occasion, unless medical or circumstantial problems arise. Full penetration must be achieved, with the dominant partner's penis inserted at least two-thirds of the length into the submissive partner's anus. Climax does not necessarily have to be achieved during the penetration, however. Both partners must want and accept the action. Even stricter rules say that the dominant partner isn't necessarily a homosexual, unless the opportunity of heterosexual relations has arisen and been turned down. As a common rule, the submissive partner is usually the smaller and/or more effeminate of the two, though if there is little difference in this area, usually the elder of the pair will become the dominant figure._

"I don't get it," Ed sighed, annoyed because usually he could figure out anything he read. Climax? Heterosexual relations? Sodomy?"

"It's not that hard. Here, look, there's a picture," Al flipped through the book to the last page of the chapter where there was a black and white illustration. See, there's the dominant man, on top, and there's the submissive man, on the bottom. See the close up of the penetration."

"Why would anybody wanna do that," the blond asked, feeling a bit queasy. "That's dirty. Don't they know what comes out of there?"

"I think they make sure they cleaned down there," Al shrugged. "And we'll have to do that someday, won't we? If we want to get married?"

"Yeah, I guess we do." Ed wrinkled his nose, thinking for a moment. He pushed at Al with his shoulder. "Haha, and you're smaller and younger, you have to be on bottom!"

"But there's not much of a difference in us," Al objected. "Surely if you're the same age and height, you can switch."

"Nope, I'm taller, therefore, I get to be on top! That's it. No question about it."

"Oh fine," Al gave up, turning the page. "I'm finished with this chapter. The rest of it is about all the reasons and cures. You won't like it anyway. Let's see what the next chapter is," he decided, looking down to the next chapter's title, stumbling over the new word. "Ed, do you have any idea what iciest, ink chest, incest, is?"

> > > > > > > >

Once every few months, Ed and Al measured each other on their door to keep track of how fast they were growing. As expected, there was always a gap between the two. The lowest dates only had Ed marked, as a short little thing not even able to reach his mother's kneecap. Ed was already quite tall when Al's first date was recorded. Since then, Ed's growth had slowed, which was normal. All children's progress eventually began to slow. It was just; Al's wasn't slowing down at the same rate as Ed's.

It had been two weeks since they had found the book in their father's collection that explained what they were, and Ed was happy to know that someday, he and Al would have a real definition for what they were. Incestual homosexuals with, at the moment, a hopefully declining tendency towards pedophilia. Of course, being not even in their double digits, it was probably normal to get crushes on children.

Ed marked his brother's new line on the door and scribbled the date on it, taking his own place where Al had once stood. Al steadied the rule on Ed's head and carefully marked the line. Ed stepped to one side, not bothering to push Al out of the way since the boy was reading the new heights on the ruler their mother had drawn on the side of the door.

"Look it, Ed!" Al exclaimed excitedly, pointing at the little black line Ed had never hoped to see. The little black line that hovered parallel just over the little black line that had the name Ed written next to it. "I grew more than you! You're shorter than me now! Isn't that awesome?"

"Who are you calling so short his only position in life is going to be on his back with his feet in the air!"

Jeez, his brother was a spaz.


End file.
